News broke Wednesday afternoon that the Carolina Panthers have rescinded the franchise tag on high-profile cornerback Josh Norman. That means he is an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any team…including the Detroit Lions. But GM Bob Quinn and the Lions need to just say no on Josh Norman.
Of course he’s a highly talented player who would instantly make the Lions better. Norman has emerged as one of the top cover men in football, and he plays with flair and swagger. The former fifth-round pick backs it up with tenacious, consistent performances punctuated with big-play sizzle. He and Darius Slay would instantly be the best 1-2 CB punch in the league, as both are arguably top-5 corners right now.
Here’s the thing: Slay needs to get paid too. Early word on the street is Norman is seeking $16M/year. Even if he “only” gets $14.5M, that’s still a huge chunk of change. You can bet Slay will ask for the same. And he deserves it, too.
Signing Norman before paying Slay would send a dangerous message. It would indicate Quinn and the new-look Lions would rather pay premium players from other teams more than they value the ones they already have. How do you think Slay would react to that? Or Ziggy Ansah, another top-shelf commodity who is due a significant new contract?
Paying two corners close to $30M a year combined is salary cap insanity. It’s precisely that sort of poor financial allocation that sent Ndamukong Suh to Miami, where he’s now destroying and devouring the Dolphins’ salary cap. While corner is a valuable position, it’s not the most important position. It’s behind pass rusher, quarterback, offensive tackle and defensive tackle. The Lions simply cannot afford the luxury of having two premiere corners.
Then there’s this angle from former Buccaneers GM–and Belichick management tree kin to Bob Quinn–Mark Dominik:
Removing franchise tag (Josh Norman/Carolina) is extremely rare. Clearly something is wrong. Two things come to mind, cap room or character
— Mark Dominik (@MarkdominikNFL) April 20, 2016
The Panthers have a decent amount of cap room, so it’s a pretty safe assumption Dominik is intimating there is some fissure between Norman and the reigning NFC Champion Panthers. The Coastal Carolina product has always had a bit of a reputation as a tough guy to deal with, and his availability highlights one of my fundamental football tenets:
There’s always a strong reason why good teams let good players leave the building.
We don’t know what that reason is for Carolina, not specifically anyway. They have some other players, notably Kawann Short, who need new deals and lines always take priority over perimeter players.
Just say no on Josh Norman.